Pafos Live 8 June 2024
The start of the hearing before the Assize Court in the Al Jazeera case has been postponed for at least another four months. The Nicosia Permanent Assize Court, which will hear the case last January, had set the hearing for June 10, i.e. next Monday.
However, after a recent consultation between the three-judge judiciary and the trial panels, it was agreed that the hearing would be rescheduled for October 2.
As philenews learns, the burden of the Assize Court allegedly played a catalytic role in this development. More precisely, there are some cases before it, for which persons under trial have been detained for several months. It was therefore considered that such cases, once the liberty of defendants is deprived, should be prioritised.
One of these cases concerns the disappearance of 31-year-old Angelos Pericleous, whose whereabouts were lost on April 20, 2023. The case was registered in the summer of 2023, with the indictment involving three persons. One is the 25-year-old main accused, a well-known person to authorities with expertise in computers. He has been held on trial since spring 2023 after facing serious charges, including premeditated murder. The 25-year-old's 60-year-old mother and 72-year-old uncle are charged in the case.
As far as the Al Jazeera case is concerned, until October 2, when the hearing is set to begin, it is not excluded that contact will be made between the representative of the prosecution and the defense lawyers of the three defendants in order to admit some facts. In such a scenario, the process of jury testimony of some prosecution witnesses would be avoided, which would save valuable court time.
The defense lawyer of one of the defendants, Andreas Pittatzis, has already received, at his request, part of the findings of the investigative committee on exceptional naturalizations (chaired by Myron Nikolatos).
The indictment's witness list includes journalists from the Al Jazeera news network who did the controversial television story that aired in late 2020.
Three people have been charged in the case. The former President of the Parliament, Dimitris Syllouris, the former MP Christakis Giovannis (their legal defense was undertaken by Christos Triantaphyllides and George Papaioannou, respectively) and the latter's company executive, Antonis Antoniou. Andreas Pittatzis, on November 11, was acquitted of the charges he faced and assumed the duties of Mr. Antoniou's defense lawyer.
The indictment includes five counts of corruption (influence trafficking) and conspiracy to defraud. Most have to do with the naturalizations of two foreign investors. There are also accusations about the possible Cypriotization of an alleged Chinese businessman as it was featured in a report by the broadcaster "Al Jazeera" in October 2020.
It is noted that regarding the case of Egyptian Mohamed Salem and his children, who became naturalized Cypriots by buying from an apartment worth 2 million euros in a building complex in Limassol, the hearing began on 19/2/2024. The Assize Court, after the testimony of the prosecution witnesses, decided that there is a prima facie case.
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A large quantity of duty-free tobacco products was found yesterday in Limassol with the authorities proceeding to confiscate them. In the case there are reasonable suspicions that the person in possession of this quantity wanted to get rid of it temporarily, hiding it, at a point, in the area of Alamanos.
According to philenews, around 11:00 in the morning, information was received that in an open area in Agios Georgios Alamanos, there were dozens of boxes of cigarettes.
Members of the Limassol OPE rushed to the spot and found near a fish tavern, in an open area, 28 large cardboard boxes containing tobacco products.
Officers of the Customs Department went to the place and a check found that they did not have the appropriate markings in Greek.
Specifically, 58 packages of hookah, 365 boxes of cigarettes of various kinds, 319 boxes of tobacco and 112 boxes of heated cigarettes were found.
According to the same information, these are duty-free tobacco products which were transported to the Republic of Cyprus without payment of duty
All items found were confiscated with police examinations continuing.
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